The Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce 
is ready to play ball.
But the object of this game isn't a home run, a touchdown or a slam dunk — it's pushing preferred candidates into public office.
The Chamber is using a year-old Political Action Committee, or PAC, to influence a handful of local elections this fall.
"The Chamber did not create the environment in which we operate," said Rob Guidry, the Chamber's president and CEO. "In order to be successful in the political arena where decisions that impact business are made, you have to be a player, and to be a player, you have to have money."
Guidry said the PAC and the Chamber are separate entities in order to abide by IRS regulations, but the two groups are are "attached at the hip."
Guidry said the PAC, which is called Empower PAC, will be used to influence local elections this fall. He said the PAC will be involved in any race for elected office with at least one voting precinct in Lafayette Parish.
He said the Chamber also used the year-old PAC in the previous Lafayette Parish School Board elections, but this fall marks the first widespread elections in which the PAC will be involved.
Guidry would not disclose either how much money the PAC has raised or how many donors have contributed to it.
"We are well financed," he said.
For more information about the Chamber's PAC, see tomorrow's print edition of The Daily Advertiser or check theadvertiser.com tomorrow for more details.
